My First Men's Club

For a number of years, and of various circumstances, I have been invited to join the Men's Club of St. Joseph. And in those occasions, I would flatly turn them down and say I wasn't ready. Recently, a fellow SBARA board member and ham, Al (WT6K), who is also an active parishioner at St. Joe, asked me if I have ever attended a Men's Club meeting. I told him that I have been invited many times, and I have turned them down as many times as well.

A couple of weeks ago, at Bell's Suds for Duds event, Chris, another St Joe and Bellarmine dad, asked me the very same question. This time I grinned and said maybe I would. He was one of the many who had tried to bring me into the Men's Club, as far back as 7-8 years ago. I asked him a few questions to satisfy my curiosity, and he responded with confidence and enthusiasm,

The Men's Club of St. Joseph, basically, provides church ministry in the areas of spirituality, service, and fellowship. All the throughout the year, there are various activities and projects that the club is involved in, and they have become regular fixtures in parish-wide functions and events. They meet every first Tuesday evening of the month, over $5 pizzas, $2 beers, and $1 sodas & water. Aside from the regular fellowship, a guest speaker is invited to present on various topics of general interest.

Tuesday came. From work, I made sure everything was all set at home, and that Jake had his dinner ready. Then I headed to the parish hall for the meeting. I didn't hesitate nor had any apprehensions about coming. As a matter of fact, I was excited and was eager to get a  glimpse of what a typical Men's Club meeting looked like.

As I entered, I was greeted by familiar faces -- men I knew more intimately and those that I regularly saw at church. For a while, I thought they were more surprised to see me there than were glad that I came. When I arrived, Al was there and he seemed surprised in a good way. It was just recently that he asked me about attending, and now, I was there. When Chris arrived, he sure was happy to see me. All these time, he had been inviting me to come, and after a very long wait, I was finally there.  It was a mixture of surprise-to-see-you-here and glad-you-could-make-it.

As a guest, I didn't have to pay for pizza or beer or soda. What perks?!?! There were about 20 or so members at the meeting. And the guest presenter was Dave, a retired Milpitas police commander, who talked about the outsourcing plans of police, fire, and emergency communication services in Milpitas. I knew Dave's wife, Debbie, more than him because she was the more visible and more popular personality within the parish.

As the meeting got underway, I didn't realize that Al was the current club vice-president, and was the incoming president for 2014. On the agenda was the club's election of officers, among others, and I was there to witness this exercise. I was also surprised to find out that Chris was a past president of the club as well. I was the only guest that evening, and I was introduced by another past president, Tom. Once introduced, and as if on cue, Chris stood up and shared with the rest of the members some information about me and what our relationship was.

The presentation was quite interesting but it took longer than expected. The election went on rather quickly and without a hitch, and the rest of the evening's business was completed in rapid succession. By then, it was close to 9pm, and the meeting was adjourned.

I had a pretty good experience as a first-timer, and the members were welcoming. I was glad that I attended. It certainly gave me an idea of what the club is all about. Would I sign up?

Well, it's something I still have to think about.......

Thanksgiving Day Tradition

One of the biggest and most important event in the US is Thanksgiving Day. It beats any other holiday, including Christmas Day, hands down. For those of us who have adopted this land as our second home away from home, we have adapted to the local practice and tradition. We, too, celebrate Thanksgiving Day, sometimes, in our own way.

For the past few years, we have created our little tradition around Thanksgiving. Since we do not have family close by, this day was celebrated among the three of us, with lunch at Maggiano's in Santana Row. For other folks who would rather go out to eat than cook at home, reservations have to be made well in advance to ensure you of a spot at this popular dining place.

Our day started with a mass at St, Joseph (I read, too). Surprisingly, there weren't too many people. But the ceremony remained solemn -- an opportune time to be thankful for all the blessings received. Right after mass, we headed back home to freshen up a little bit, before heading to Santana Row for the 1:15pm reservation.

Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake

Maggiano's was packed, as always, Thanksgiving Day or any other day. We arrived a little bit early hoping that we could get seated sooner. Unfortunately, not. So we waited. After 20 minutes or so, we were ushered to our table. I've learned from past dining experience and brought our own bottle of wine. It was way much cheaper to pay the $15 corkage fee than to pay $65 for a bottle that I could have bought for $20 retail.

If you haven't been to Maggiano's during Thanksgiving, they have a prix-fixe menu, which they serve family style. For starters, they had a variety of bruschetta. Then we had a choice of 2 salads, 2 main entrees, plus 2 side dishes, 2 pastas, and 2 desserts. For the salad, we got the classic ceasar's salad and Maggiano's tossed salad. The main courses were country ham with sweet yam and pan-fried filleted tilapia. The third choice was obviously turkey, but since we were not fans of it, we skipped it altogether. For our pastas, it was rigatoni and spaghetti & meatballs. Our side dishes included a cream of corn and sauteed spinach. And for dessert, it was tiramisu and the ultra rich pumpkin praline cheesecake.

Tiramisu

As in every meal at Maggiano's, there was just way too many food for 3 people. Even if you skipped breakfast or are famished, it was just impossible to finish all the food on the table. And if you did, you can ask for more, at no extra cost. No kidding. With all the leftovers packed and the wine bottle empty, the strong, hot house brew was what we needed. Then, it was time go. The wife was so fixated with the pumpkin cheesecake that she bought a whole cake. And it wasn't cheap. But it's the only time of the year that Maggiano's serves it, so why not.

When we got home, we put away all the food we brought, and took a little siesta. It was one of those days that you didn't care about errands to run or chores to do. It was a perfect time for a nap.

After about a couple of hours, it was time to head off to our godchildren's, as we had been invited for Thanksgiving dinner. Food served were not your traditional Thanksgiving fare. Instead, they were Filipino favorites, which included grilled salmon head, grilled pork belly, mini fish fritters, banana heart (or bud or blossom) cooked in coconut milk, crabs, and fried & grilled eggplant. And desserts were a variety of pumpkin delights, mini fruit tarts, creme puffs, and macaroons. To say we weren't stuffed was lying.

With or without a turkey, it was another day to be thankful for.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Yelp for the use of the photographs in this post.

Tech Problems And Some Beer

This Monday was quite a long day. I worked from home because I needed to take care of some home stuff. The day started with my usual drop off of Jake at Nick's for the carpool to Bell. Whether I was off, working from home, or whatever, I still had to take him there by 7am, so sleeping in was never an option.

Work-wise, I had a 2-hour Webex meeting from 9-11am. I was all set to call in to the meeting when suddenly I had difficulty logging in to the Webex link. After numerous tries, no luck. I've had success in the past, from home, but not this time. Then, I realized that I had a tech refresh a couple of days prior, which included the replacement of my laptop. As in all tech refreshes, not everything (file, applications, software, settings, etc) is transferred over despite the promises made by IT. I guess that included my Webex link.

One of the attendees to this meeting had already called me and was asking if I would be calling in. I explained my situation and hoped to catch up. After numerous conversations and attempted fixes with IT, I managed to figure things out on my own. I was able to regain my Webex access and call in to the meeting. Unfortunately, I was almost an hour late. Better late than never.

Bell had an early dismissal today, so I left to pick up the boys. Once everyone was dropped off, Jake and I had lunch before we went back home.

Later in the evening, Bell's Dad's Club hosted "Suds for Duds". It was their way of kicking off the school's winter clothing drive. For this event, all we needed was to register and pay $20, plus a donation(s) of gently used winter clothing. If you have already given away all your unwanted warm clothing, you can still attend the event, but you'd have to pony up a few more dollars in lieu of a material donation.

For $20, I thought that it was a pretty darn good deal. For this amount, you could literally drink all the beer you could. No one was counting. There was also an endless supply of chips/salsa, trail mix, and other appetizers. Dinner was bratwurst and roll, with all the fixings. And again, you can stuff yourself with all the brats you want. In addition, you also received a "Suds for Duds" beer glass as souvenir.

This was the first time to attend and I thought it was quite successful. What added to the fun event was the broadcast of 49ers-Redskins football game on 2 large screens. Somehow, it made the ice-cold beer taste even better.

About a week prior, Chris J, one of the St, Joe dads who has 2 boys at Bell, emailed the rest of the SJ dads about coming to this event because of the experience he had last year. Unfortunately, I guess most had prior commitments and didn't come. I contacted Chris J later in the afternoon, and he and I carpooled to Bell.

It was a fun night. I don't mind doing it again next year. I hope the rest can come along as well.

Is The Pacman Really Back?

After almost a year since his earth-shattering knockout that had him out cold for a couple of minutes, Manny Pacquiao was back. And his first test since that dreadful day was a wild Mexican-American brawler from Oxnard, CA, Brandon Rios. I will spare you the details of all the pomp and pageantry that came with the promotion of this fight. It was your typical Pacquiao roadshow, courtesy of his promoter, Top Rank and its head honcho, Bob Arum.

What made this a little different from those in the past was that this fight was held in Macao. Yes, you read it right. Macao, the former Portuguese colony that has now returned to mother China. And why was this event held in Macao? Well, Top Rank wanted to promote big time boxing in Asia, particularly in the gambling kingdom of Macao. He also wanted to make sure such fights were more accessible to those in this part of the world. He even included an upcoming, former Olympic Chinese boxer as an undercard bout to draw more interest. These were all great reasons why the fight was held in Macao.

But were there more? Absolutely!

The main reason this fight was held in this part of the world was all about money -- much, much more money..... for Manny, Bob, and everyone else. And why was this so? Well, taxes are (much, much) less in Macao than in anywhere in mainland USA. Can you imagine all the monies that Pacquiao reportedly had made all these years fighting in the US, and how much he actually took home after taxes? I was surprised he didn't do it much sooner. He could have probably bought the entire province of Saranggani (of which he is the congressman of) with what could have been his earnings. Now I don't really know if it mattered for Rios because he would have paid US taxes anyway, regardless of where he fought since he is an American citizen. But not Pacquiao.

Manny Pacquiao (left) & Brandon Rios (right)

And the promoter had also figured out the pay-per-view aspect of this bout and how it was important that this fight be viewed in the evening, at prime time, in the US and in most of the Western world. All they had to do was to have the fights in the morning. So, the first undercard, scheduled to air at 6:00pm PST, Saturday, was fought at 10:00am, Sunday, Macao time. By the time Pacquiao got on the ring with Rios, it was almost 9:00pm PST, or almost 1:00pm. Seemed a bit unusual, but it's the just way it is. And these boxers don't really care what time of day they fight. If they're ready, they are ready.

I will not do a blow-by-blow of the fight. But I'll share with you what I saw. Pacquiao no longer has the same aggressiveness and appetite he used to have prior his terrible knockout. He was a smarter fighter, at least for this bout. He knew that he couldn't risk another careless approach, as he did the last time, and be stung by one lucky punch. I was expecting a brawl, as his opponent was one. But Pacquiao wouldn't have any of it. He would come in, throw his punches, then pull back and dance around. Very not-so-typical of him, or at least, from what I have seen of him in past fights. This was why the match went the distance, and he didn't even shake Rios one bit. His knees never buckled. It's either Rios just had a really tough chin or Pacquiao no longer has the strength to pull out a winning punch.

I didn't realize that a welterweight belt was up for grabs, but her got one. With his victory, I would expect more fights lined up for him. Will there ever be this dream match against Mayweather? Probably not. Pacquiao's win wasn't convincing enough. Not for me, at least. Are there anyone else tougher and stronger than Rios? I don't know. But he should start lining up better fighters if he wants to gain back lost prominence. Will another Pacquiao-Marquez be worth it? For the money, certainly! Will it really mean anything? Who said it mattered.

At the end of the day, it is all about MONEY -- lost of it. Is that right, Mr. Congressman? How much more money do you need? And have you asked your pastor about this? I am sure he will say, it's OK.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge the New York Daily Times for the use of the photograph in this post.

Driving Nick

High school boys volleyball season is coming up soon and preparations are underway at Bell. Open gyms have been scheduled in the last couple of months, and today was one of them -- the second. And Jake has all these days memorized so he doesn't miss any.

Being a Wednesday, these after-school activities add to the complexity of the carpool pick-up -- mine, in particular. From my experience during the last open gym, I certainly didn't want to wait for 2 hours with nothing to do. So I was set on going back to Fremont from Bell. And the reason I had to go to Bell was to take Jake to dinner before open gym. His class ended at 3pm, and I didn't think he could wait till after 9pm to get something to eat. My plan was to take him to dinner at around 5, and be back before 6. Enough time to digest, rest, and be ready.

With that in mind, I suggested to Nick's mom that I could bring him home since I was heading back to Fremont anyway, but only if Nick could be patient enough to wait till 6pm. I knew his basketball tryout would end at 5:30ish, so he wouldn't be waiting that long. Otherwise, Nick's dad would pick him up instead. But Nick said it was OK to wait. So, going back to Fremont, Nick was my only passenger. Early that afternoon, Coby was picked up because he didn't have any activity after school nor did he want to wait till 6pm.

When I got to Bell, Jake was hungry, alright, but he didn't have any idea what he wanted to eat. The last time, we had pizza. I wasn't familiar with the neighborhood so I was at a lost myself. Yelp and Around Me apps could only provide so much suggestions, but we still had to choose. We narrowed it down to a pho place. And with 4 stars to its credit, courtesy of Yelp, we chose Pho Lynn.

Now, don't ask me where in the world this place is because I really do not know. I had to use Google Maps to find it. And when we got there, Jake was too scared to get down from the car. To me, it seemed like a seedy part of town. But at that point, we didn't have too many choices and time was running out. This restaurant was on the main drag (which I could not remember), but had back parking.

Pho Lynn from the back entrance

We entered through the back and aside from 2 tables, no one else was there. For a Vietnamese restaurant, I was expecting the aroma of hot, steaming broth and grilled meat. Instead, it was some funky, chemical odor that I couldn't describe. It wasn't foul, but just weird. If there was such a thing as a dive pho, this was it. Jake was apprehensive, and I was beginning to be as well. He ordered pho (aka rice noodle soup with meat), while I had a lemongrass chicken rice plate. As we ate, all we prayed for was that neither one of us would get sick with whatever it was we were eating. We consumed our meals as quickly as we could, then off we went.

We arrived at Bell before 6pm. Jake waited in the car a bit before he got off and looked for Nick. Soon after, both were headed back to the parking lot. With Nick on board, Jake strode off to the gym.

On our trip back, I knew Nick was tired. But I engaged him in some small talk. He shared with me his tryout experiences and the little nuances that came with it. We also talked about professional basketball, and some other sports stuff. The conversation was light and short. Nick, after all, is a pretty shy, quiet young man. In between conversations, he was fuzzing over his mobile device, like any typical kid his age. After about half an hour, we arrived at his house. Once he got in through the garage, I was on my way.

Tonight was ragchew night on 40m with some of the SBARA gang. We try to meet regularly at 8pm, every Wednesday to chat on HF, to while the time and to get more hams on HF. There were about 5 of us at the roundtable, and it was quite fun. I just wished I didn't have to cut it short since I had to pick up Jake at Bell. On the way, Al (WT6K) called in on the 2m repeater to see where I was. Whenever I drive solo, I always have my radio on. Keeps me company.

By 9pm, I was at the parking lot close to the gym, as I waited for Jake to come out. Then, we were on our way.

If none of these had taken place, Jake and I would have probably watched the Stanford-Washington women's volleyball match at Maples Pavilion. Well, it's one of those days....

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Yelp for the use of the photograph in this post.

Hello Clovis

Our next tournament (#3) was in Clovis. None of us had been there, so I didn't know what expect. So far, this was the farthest venue we have played at in our short club volleyball experience. I had mixed feelings about this venue simply because it was far -- almost 3 hours far. And this was just a one day tournament -- a Sunday at that. Despite my apprehension, we were ready.

Since the tournament was a Sunday, most families indicated that they would probably drive down Saturday and spend the night. Call time was the usual 7:30am, and, with a 2.5-3 hour drive, that meant hitting the road no later than 4:30am, just to get there in time. I certainly didn't want to wake up at 3:30am and drive 3 hours. I've done it once and swore never again. Bay to Bay managed to secure a block of hotel rooms at Hampton Inn at a discounted rate, so I booked as soon as I learned about it.

A few weeks prior, I posed a question to our team parent and asked if we could ask for an earlier practice schedule the Saturday before the tournament. I knew it was wishful thinking, but it didn't hurt to ask. Practice that Saturday was 5:30-7:30pm. Assuming we left right after, we wouldn't get to Clovis till close to midnight. But, like I always said, we were prepared for it anyway. It was still better than waking up at 3:30am.

Over the course of the next few days, certain things happened. Harker was hosting some volleyball playoff games and it affected the Saturday practice schedule. By divine intervention, the practice schedules were arranged in such a way that the teams who had to go to Clovis practiced in the morning. Our practice got moved up to 9:30-11:00am. This worked perfectly well. I wanted to arrive in Clovis before the sun set, so I planned on leaving at 2pm. We ended up going at 2:30pm, and got there just as the sun set, just as planned. On Friday, I did a quick Costco run for our assignment food -- fruits. I got apples, grapes, bananas, and strawberries.

Finding the hotel and checking in was a breeze. We took a much deserved rest before we headed off to dinner. Jake took advantage of the lull to do his homework. Dinner was at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Fresno, which was less than 10 minutes away from the hotel. It was arranged by our team parent. However, only 3 families went. From there, it was straight back to the hotel. For a while, we considered grabbing some ice cream, but we were just stuffed.... and tired.

Sunday morning, with all the rituals and ceremonies completed, Jake headed down for breakfast, along with the rest of the team who spent the night at the hotel. I followed about 30 minutes later, and brought him to Clovis High School, site of the tourney. Then, I headed back to the hotel, did what I had to do, and went down with the wife for breakfast. Soon after, we checked out and headed for Clovis High.

For this tourney, we remained in 5th place in the Silver division. So our team's first order of the day was to officiate. Our first game was against MVVC 15-2, which we won in 3 sets. This was immediately followed by the match against CRV 16-1, which also went 3 sets. However, we lost. But it was one of those games that we could have won had we contained our errors. We split our pool, moving into bracket play. First match in the bracket was against Kamikaze 16-1, whom we defeated in straight sets. Next was a loss against BAVC 16-1. Another split. The next bracket didn't matter much. We knew we remained in Silver. All we needed to find out was whether we moved up to 4th, dropped to 6th, or stayed in 5th.

Prior to the matches in this next bracket, it was discussed among the teams that everyone would play one game, instead of best of 3 sets, since the outcome was really immaterial and was merely for placing purposes only. We played Clovis, whom we've beaten in the past, but lost to this time. As a result, we slipped to 6th place and they moved up to 5th since they were ranked lower than us going into this tournament. With this agreed format, it meant we could leave early. And so we did. By 4pm, we were on the road. Good bye Clovis.

Traffic wasn't bad for a late Sunday afternoon. For some strange reason, I thought our trip back was much faster. On the way, we were contemplating on whether or not we could hear mass at 6:30pm in Fremont. Well, it all depended on whether or not we got to Fremont by then, right? Again, by all-divine intervention, we did. We were approaching the Mission Blvd exit on 680S by 6:25pm, and we were inside St. Joseph church just as the priest and altar servers had processed up the altar. Just in the nick of time, yea?

It was a long day, and an even longer weekend. And all I can say is, keep the faith.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Yelp for the use of this photograph in this post.

Mitty Or SBARA?

It's another Friday, and it's one of those days when you just have one too many things going on. Although not as packed as in past Fridays, it was still something to think about. First, a Bell football game against Archbishop Mitty. The other, the monthly SBARA meeting. What made the selection a little complicated was the fact that the football game was the last Bellarmine home game of the season, while the other was SBARA's last meeting for the year. And did I mention that 2014 officers were also being elected at this meeting as well? The choices we have to make....

After much self-deliberation, coupled with logical thinking and detailed rationalization, I decided to attend the SBARA meeting. With my choice, it didn't mean I was off the hook with my responsibilities that were tied to this football game. The other part of this story involved my son, Jake. He wanted to watch the game and was hoping that I would come. Like all the other kids his age, I didn't think they cared much about the game. It was more about hanging out with their friends, and, hopefully, meeting girls. All he needed me for was to take him to and from the game.

I didn't want to let him down, so I made sure he had a way of getting to the game. Fortunately, his BFF, Coby, wanted to watch the game as well, probably for the same reason like most everyone else. So I made arrangements with Coby's mom for a ride. After school, Jake hung around Coby's house till they left for the game. And everything went well. Now, I was ready for my gig.

Yaesu FT-60R

After dinner at my default restaurant, Cherry Garden, I headed to Hurricane Electric's facility in Warm Springs, which was the site for our monthly meetings. Being the last meeting of the year, a brand new Yaesu dualband handheld radio was raffled off, along with some other ham-related goodies and books. Also up for grabs were a couple of knitted scarves -- always a favorite during these raffles.

This month's presenter talked about ARES, or the Amateur Radio Emergency Service -- a service arm of the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL). Poor chap had to wait quite a bit before he could present. Typically, presenters come in and talk during the second half of the meeting. The first part usually covered introductions, news, announcements, and other business of the general membership. Then, a 15 minute break is taken, before the presenter is called in. For whatever reason, there was some spirited discussion about DXing, contesting, and 2x2 callsigns that prolonged the first half of the session. But it was all good discussion, as we all wanted.

The presentation took a little longer than I expected. After 10 minutes into this talk, I was lost and I merely counted the minutes. And each minute seemed longer than the last one. On the bright side, there was the raffle to look forward to, especially the handheld radio. By the time we got to the raffle, it was almost 9:30pm. That, too, dragged on as there were a number of small items being raffled off. I waited in anticipation for the final draw -- the radio. Unfortunately, none of my 12 numbers was called. It was over. I picked up my chair, and another, and stacked them against the rack, before I headed out into the cold night.

Till next year..... 73 es dit-dit.

Time to Fall Back

For those who may have missed it, today, we go back to Standard Time. Well, it was supposed to be 2am this morning. So before I went to bed last night, I made sure I adjusted my clock an hour backwards. It gave me an extra hour of sleep.

As soon as I got up, I checked the clock to make sure it was the right time. I had to make sure of it because I had a scheduled girls volleyball game at Moreau and didn't want to be late for it. Our first game of the season was against the other St. Joe Gold team, which we won handily in straight sets.

Jake and the wife had wanted to watch the game, but Jake had tons of homework to do and was concerned he may not have enough time to finish them all. I don't blame him since he still had volleyball practice to go to. With the schedule of my game and his practice being tight, the wife took Jake to practice instead. Today, it was at King's Academy -- a place the wife has not been to before. But with Google Maps, it was all good.

Before I picked up Jake in the evening, I did a quick grocery run, mostly for Jake's lunch at school -- pastrami, ham, and bread, plus a few other stuff. On the way back from practice, I had this sudden craving for pizza. I was dead set on Mission Pizza, and nothing would change that unless they were closed. Knowing how long it took to make them, I called in our order. By the time we arrived from Sunnyvale, it was be ready. Perfect timing.

When we got home, Jake realized he left his Bell sweater at practice. I asked the wife to text the moms, whose sons had their practice right after his. The plan was for them to retrieve the sweater and bring it to school the next day. With no reply from the texts, I just hopped on the car and drove back to King's Academy. Now, I normally wouldn't do this, but since it was a Sunday and traffic was fairly light, I didn't mind. Otherwise, he would have kissed his sweater goodbye, and charged it to experience.

Now, that was any extra 35 miles on the car, almost $8.00 on gas, and 40 minutes of unproductive time. But a Bell hoodie sweater, priceless.

No Goodbye But See You Again

It was dress-up day at Bell -- one of the few special days students tidy up and look dignified in their long-sleeved shirts, neck tie, and dress slacks. It was All Saints Day after all.

The associate pastor at St. Joe reminded us churchgoers last Sunday that All Saints Day was a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics. I missed two opportunities to hear mass -- one at the Cathedral of Christ the Light at noon, and the other St. Joe in the evening. My bad. Mia culpa. Perdoname.

Typically, I would have heard mass at noon, at the Cathedral. But today was the farewell lunch for my retiring boss, Cathy. The group's choice was Boca Nova at Jack London Square.

I had a feeling we all tried to make the moment light and fun. I know I tried, and I certainly wanted it to be that way. But I guess it was difficult because we all knew that it would probably be the last time we'll all be together. In the last 7-plus years, we've had countless gatherings of this sort, and each and every time, Cathy would foot the bill. Her being so generous is definitely an understatement.

I will miss these gatherings, not because she paid for it, but because for brief moments, we all seemed to have fun. We were relaxed and talked about things other than work. I know she tried so hard to make our team a cohesive, happy family. But we all had our quirks, and it never happened. And this frustrated her. She shared this with me on numerous occasions.

The time blew by so fast, it was time to get up and say goodbye. No tears rolled, at least, I didn't notice any, or my peers did a good job at holding it back. When it was my time, I told her this was not goodbye, but an I'll-see-you-again-soon. To which she agreed, and smiled. From there, I didn't plan on going back to work in the afternoon. So did the rest. With the early off, I was able to pass by the pharmacy to pick up my meds.

Originally, Jake and I had planned on watching the Stanford women's volleyball team play UCLA at Maples. There weren't any schedule conflicts either since there was no Bell football game scheduled. However, he got invited to watch the St. Francis-Serra varsity football game at St. Francis. I was fine with it and not being able to watch the Stanford game wasn't a big deal either.

After making a few arrangements, all was set. He had his ride to and from St. Francis. Although he wasn't really a big fan of either team, I knew he had a different agenda for wanting to watch the game. Well, it was more like him wanting to go to St. Francis, period.

 A few days prior, we were having a conversation about the Bell formal dance in December and who he was planning to take. The lady-date was identified, and it was at this football game that Jake "formally" asked her out. I'll spare you the behind-the-scenes leading up to this day, but I definitely understood why he needed to go. I was all for it.

As for me, I didn't have anything else to do. A bottle of beer or a glass of wine was not even enticing. I passed the time watching recorded episodes of Grey's Anatomy. And my boy did give me an update. The girl said, "yes."

Halloween Potluck Galore

In past years, our little office group would put together a potluck lunch around Halloween. This year, with a full cast from the larger Compensation & Benefits group under our new boss, DC, we made it a little more official by holding the first annual Halloween potluck.

Compared to previous years, this was a bigger group, which included the larger Benefits group. A larger group meant more food. And there certainly was a lot of it. An online list was made available, where everyone would indicate what they would bring to the potluck. It pretty much covered all the essentials, from appetizers to paper plates.

Chicken Adobo

There was more than enough food to feed everyone on the floor. Dishes were varied -- some home-made, others store-bought. Regardless, everything was good. I brought my (in)famous chicken adobo. In past potlucks, I had always brought this dish and everyone seemed to enjoy it, especially with steamed white rice. At this potluch, there was no steamed white rice. Fortunately, there was Chinese fried rice, and that seemed good enough. Others just loved it even without the rice.

Appetizer and desserts were aplenty. If you started with the appetizers, you probably wouldn't be able to make it to the main courses because you'd be stuffed by then. And same goes for the desserts. By the time you got to it, you've already had enough.

As lunch progressed, someone from the Benefits team, who was celebrating her birthday, was acknowledged with a simple "Happy Birthday" song. And since it was Halloween, DC told everyone they could go home earlier than usual so they could go trick-or-treating with their kids. This was a welcome treat (no pun intended) for all.

Since I wasn't expecting trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood, I went home to watch the girls varsity volleyball game between Irvington and Moreau.

Bell's Open House From The Other Side

Bellarmine had their open house over the weekend. For the past few weeks, Jake had been looking forward to this day. Earlier in the school year, he signed up to be a shadow guide. As the name implies, these guides have potential Bell freshmen tag along with them on a typical school day in order to give them a first hand look at the life of a Bell student. During open house, these guides are tapped to assist in the various activities for the day.

With a few days before the open house, Jake has not heard back whether or not his services were needed for the open house. I guess, despite being a shadow guide, not everyone is called back to help during open house. He was beginning to get disappointed.

On the day before open house, he got an email informing  him (and others) about some guides backing out, which left open spots to fill. This was the cue for those not previously called to suit up for open house. A quick email reply confirmed his participation. Jake was a happy camper.

Just past 8:30am, I dropped him off at Bellarmine. He had lots of time to prepare and find out what he needed to do. Open house wasn't to start till 10am.

At around 1:30pm, the wife and I picked him up, and went to Left Bank for lunch. On the way, he was telling us how his day went. He didn't have to show the campus around or man a post on campus. Instead, he was roaming around, answering questions from potential students and families.

As the conversation went on, the wife got a ping on her phone. It was a posting on FB by Dr. Ben. It showed a picture of Jake standing at the quad, having a conversation with a family. When I saw the photograph, I smiled and felt proud at how responsible my boy had become. To think that we were on the other side of this conversation just a year ago. Can you imagine how quickly things have changed?

Since Jake had volleyball practice later in the afternoon and we were in the neighborhood, we decided to just hang around Santana Row. A quick stop at Pink Berry helped kill some more time. By 5pm, he was at practice, and we headed home. A couple hours later, I was back on the road, solo, to take my boy home.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Dr. Ben Chew for the use of the photograph in this post.

Don't Let The Band Play

Bellarmine's varsity football team played Valley Christian at SJCC. Crowd was a bit larger than the St. Ignatius game a week ago, but it wasn't really packed unlike the first home game of the season.

As in previous trips to SJCC, I picked up Nick and Justin at St Joe, and we headed to the game. Their dad, Paul, met us there since he worked somewhere close by. When we got to St. Joe, I was a little surprised to see the parking lot full. I didn't realize that they had their Halloween Carnival, which was a little earlier than usual. But I managed to find a spot while I waited for Justin to arrive.

We got to SJCC quite early, and parking was not a problem. With our normal pre-game ritual (a visit to the restroom and grabbing something to eat & drink) all completed, we headed to our usual spot at the bleacher and watched both teams warm up. To our left, the Bell band was tuning their instruments and preparing as well. This game looked like it had the makings of a big game when I saw THE BELL (not the mascot) being pulled across the field, as well as the 2 flag bearers running up and down the track.

Barely 5 minutes into the game, Valley Christian scored their first touchdown. From the succeeding plays of our Bell boys, I had a feeling it was going to be a long night. And it surely was. The game seemed like an eternity. There were a few exciting moments, but, for the most part, the boys were playing catch-up. The Bells lost 13-31.

I kidded Jake and told him that probably the band was the jinx. In the games we've watched, Bell lost whenever the band played. This happened at the homecoming game against Serra, their first loss, and tonight against Valley Christian, their second loss. In the prior home game against St. Ignatius and the away game against St. Francis, Bell won both and the band was not present in either one.

The true test of this theory would be the last few games, including the last home game against Archbishop Mitty. If they do lose that game and the band played, that'll be the third strike. And we're out !!! Theory proven.

With the loss, our consolation was a late dinner at Five Guys.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Logopedia for the use of the Five Guys logo in this post.

My Corner Space In The Gym

Now that the fall sports are winding down, the winter and spring sports are gearing up and preparing for their debut. Basketball has already had multiple conditioning sessions, and continue to do so as their tryouts near. Volleyball is not too far behind as well. As a matter of fact, they've already scheduled a few open gyms, with the first one tonight.

Being  a Wednesday, it was my pick-up day. Since Jake and Nick had planned on attending the open gym at 7pm, it didn't make sense for me to pick-up, drive back to Fremont, then go back to Bell for the open gym. So I informed Coby's mom if she could pick up his son instead.

Before the open gym, James, Nick, and I had dinner at a Mountain Mike's pizza place close to Bell. The place wasn't fancy nor was it scary, so we stayed. I thought the boys would be famished and ordered an extra large pizza. When it was brought to our table, we were all shocked. It was HUGE. It was just too much pizza for the 3 of us. We ate half and packed the rest. We finished up early so the boys had time to rest and the food to digest.

Back at Bell, as the boys changed for volleyball, I had a glimpse of the varsity water polo match against St. Ignatius. Before the start of the match, the team from St. Ignatius recited the Prayer for Generosity, as part of their cheer. I found this quite interesting. For those who do not know, the Prayer for Generosity is a prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus.

I wasn't sure if I would be allowed to watch the open gym, so we went in early. I sat at the far end of the bleacher, close to the door, and away from everyone else. I was hoping to be incognito, but my red jacket pretty much gave me away. For the next 2 hours, I just sat there and did nothing. From time to time, I would check my emails or read the latest Twitter feeds on my cellphone. It was surely one of the longest 2 hours I have ever experienced.

There wasn't much to the open gym. It was just free play. It was some sort of gauge of who's interested to be part of the team. The group was divided between those who have not been on the team before -- the FRESHMEN, and those who've had. And these 2 groups pretty much played among themselves. Even the coaches running the open gym joined in and played as well.

It was a long night, and even longer day, especially if you were just killing time, like I was. But there's more to come. Hopefully, I don't have to sit and wait.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Mountain Mike's Pizza for the use of their logo in this post.

Day 3 But Business As Usual

It's Monday and Day 3 of the BART strike. The impact of the strike was felt today than over the weekend as commuters going to & from work had to deal with other means of getting to work. It looked like most people were prepared and have learned from their experience during the strike back in July. But it still was a major pain for most. And I'm not even going to talk about the strike itself or my personal bias might be too obvious.

With the strike on, I had to work from home. It was business as usual. First on the agenda was a call-in to the Compensation Leadership Team meeting. And that pretty much took the entire morning. One downside with these call-in sessions is that most speakers (in-person) are not too conscious that there are participants on the phone and that they need to speak up a little more than normal.

Being a Monday, it was my day to pick up the boys at Bell. My 5th grade girls had volleyball practice today as well, but since I was the designated Bell pick-up, I was not able to make it. I am thankful that I have very able assistants who ran the session in my absence.

As for tomorrow's fate, I'll have to wait tonight to find out if BART management and the union have reached an agreement. For now, we wait.

Power League #2 in SJCC

For the first time in our (very) young club volleyball career, we (finally) played on familiar ground. Welcome to San Jose, baby !!! Venue for Power League #2 was San Jose City College. This place has become home to me because this is where the Bellarmine varsity football team plays its home games.

A close playing venue gave us the luxury of an extra hour or so of sleep. And it was primo and precioso. Thinking it was (too) close by, we didn't factor in some time to get coffee. So we dropped off Jake, then proceeded to the closest Peet's to got that much needed caffeine. When we got back, we were lucky to find an open parking spot close to where everyone wanted to be.

For this tourney, our assignment was to bring bread (I got 3 long loaves) and condiments (mustard and mayo), including peanut butter and strawberry jam.

Our first match was against Clovis 15-1 (8th). I guess the boys were still half asleep with the extra hour they had because they lost in 3 sets. What happened??? Then came an even bigger shocker. We played Bay's own 16-2 (2nd), and lost in straight sets. But the boys managed to put up a good fight, I thought. End of pool play.

Energized with some food, but hardly a decent lunch, the boys were up and about for the bracket play, beginning with a 2-set win over Sunset 16-1 (7th). The energy carried over to the next match, but it wasn't enough, as the boys bowed to MVVC 15-1 (3rd). Then, some more eating, resting, and chatting for the boys. Parents included.

Next match was a sweet revenge as we defeated Clovis in the second encounter. Boys were much more poised and alert. I still couldn't figure out what happened to them in the earlier match. But it was all good. The final match in the bracket had no bearing, but a win would have been great. We lost to Aloha 16-1 (6th).

Running chatter among some parents was the venue for the next tournament. If we remained in Silver
division, we were headed for charming Clovis. To avoid the dreaded 2.5-3 hour drive, we either had to win over higher-ranked teams to move up to Gold and a trip to San Francisco, or to lose to lower-ranked teams or not win any match at all and move down to Bronze for a drive to Pleasant Hill.

Of course, it was all in jest. As a matter of fact, I do want to see what Clovis has to offer.

At the end of the day, we remained in 5th place in Silver. So off to Clovis we go.

Despite the food we had at the tailgate, we were starving. Nothing against the food we had, but our internal system was jsut used to something else. From SJCC, we grabbed a late lunch at Basil Leaf for a Vietnamese fixe. A quick pit stop at home to freshen up, then it was on to St. Joseph for the youth mass.

It was another long 14-hour day, but I surely didn't mind the drive -- all 15 miles of it. Now, I have to prepare for the next tournament, and that dreaded, much-hated trek to Clovis.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge the City of Clovis for the illustration used in this post.

Stop: Time For A Change

Stop!!!

With over 200 posts in 12 months, I think it's time to pause and think about how I want to proceed goingforward.

In looking back at what I have shared, I hope it has given you a glimpse of my everyday life, as well as that of my family and circle of friends. There were times I thought my stories had been too predictable and too routine. But that IS life. It can be predictable. Routine. Mundane.

On good days, I scribbled forever, to the point that some of my posts had become too lengthy and too verbose. And it had become too narrative as well, if you'd ask me. One thing I would hate was for you to lose interest and go elsewhere.

It is time for a change.

In keeping with the same theme, I'd like to focus on the truly plain, simple, and practical that life has to offer. And I'll make it short, too! I call it, "It's JJ's Peek".

I created this new blog to capture my slice of life from a different perspective. It'll be a candid look at the simplest of things, that is fun and, maybe, humorous, yet true and real. It is everyday life after all.

As for this blog (Let's Figure This One Out), it'll continue to be what it is -- a narration of life as it unfolds. There will be more story-telling, but concise. And that will be its new look.

Both blogs will be a work-in-progress, continuously striving to improve on the last posts, but still keeping true to form. I do hope that you continue to enjoy what I have to share, and I would appreciate it if you can leave me a comment or feedback.

Don't forget.... Let's Figure This One Out (letsfigurethisoneout.blogspot.com) and It's JJ's Peek (itsjjspeek.wordpress.com).

Girls' Preseason Tourney

My 5th grade girl's Blue volleyball team had their first preseason tournament this morning, sponsored by St. Leander. Call time was 8:30am, but I was late (my bad). Barely made it to the 9am start. When I arrived, a rep from the tournament sponsor was briefing the participating teams about the format of the tournament, which I found quite interesting.

All the participating schools were grouped by pool, with 3 teams each. Every team played each other once, for a guaranteed 2 matches each. Teams played 2 games (or sets) per match (versus another team), and it didn't matter if you split the games. Bracket play for the following day was determined by point differential. The top 2 teams, with the most points in each pool, moved on to what appeared to be the "winners' bracket, etc. In our pool, we had St. Joseph-Alameda and Our Lady of Guadalupe (OLG).

Our first match was against St. Joseph-Alameda. We won the first game, 27-25, but lost the second, 25-18. Since we won the first game by 2, then lost by 7 in the next, our point differential was -5 points, while St. Joseph-Alameda had +5 points. The next scheduled match was between St. Joseph-Alameda and OLG, so we took a "bye". During the lull, the girls had some donuts and orange juice.

The next match was between our girls and OLG. We handily won the first game, 25-8, but took a little longer on the second, 25-17. This gave us +25 points for this match. With our -5 points in the earlier match, our pool total was +20 points. Since St. Joseph-Alameda won both their games against OLG, they racked up more points, and led our pool at the end of the first day.

Tomorrow was Day 2 of the preseason tournament, Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend because Jake has his Power League #2 tournament at San Jose City College. This left Lou and Jacob to run the shop. Before I left yesterday, I taught Lou my rotation strategy and gave her a copy of it, so she knows what to do tomorrow. Besides, Jacob would be there, too.

Jake's volleyball practice was moved up from 1:30-3:30pm today. He wanted to come and watch the girls play, but I wasn't sure if we would be done in time to grab lunch and take him to practice. St. Leander in San Leandro to San Jose is quite a distance, too. So, his mom took him. They had lunch at Santana Row before heading to Harker for practice. They asked me if I wanted to follow and have lunch with them, but it was just too far. By the time I got there, it might be time to leave. And I didn't want to rush my lunch either.

On the way home, I stopped by Panda Express for a take-out. Well, it was one of those days....

I had planned on picking up Jake after practice. I didn't think the wife would be hanging around and waiting for him for 2 hours. But she did. I guess she went to Valley Fair to shop and kill some time. She called me and asked if I wanted her to pick up Jake. Of course, I said yes. As soon as I hung up, I was snoring. As a matter of fact, I didn't even remember them arriving. But it was all good -- a little break from the mundane task.

By the way, it's Day 2 of the BART strike, and it doesn't look like there will be any resolution anytime soon.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge St. Leander School for the use of the illustration in this post.

An SI Game As BART Struck

After days, if not weeks, of waiting and speculating, BART union workers, finally, decided to strike today. They've threatened to do so since the 60-day cooling-off period ended midnight October 9. Since then, commuters, who relied on BART as their means of transportation to and from work, had been on edge, waiting late every night for news on whether or not an agreement had been reached or if there would be a strike the next day.

I am a bit fortunate since my boss has allowed me to work from home in case of a BART strike. During the strike in the summer, I brought my laptop and worked from home for the duration of the strike -- 3 days. This second go-around, I had to bring my laptop home everyday since there was no certainty when the workers would strike. I had to be prepared. And if there was one thing I hated was to drag my laptop with me every single day. This thing weighs a ton, you know?

This morning, Jake went back to St. Joe, his third day, to finish his community service hours for Bell. All he needed was an hour, but he stayed on the entire morning, for an additional 4 hours. Since he had enough, he decided not to do extra hours at Kid's Club. Yesterday, he was concerned about how he would get home if he finished early. His only option was to walk home. Since I worked from home today, I was able to pick him up as classes were dismissed. From there, we had lunch.

Later in the day, we had planned on watching the Bell-St. Ignatius football game at SJCC. I was able to take a quick nap when we got back from lunch. At around 5:30pm, we picked up Nick and Justin at St. Joe, then headed to San Jose. Although the game wasn't till 7pm, I wasn't sure how traffic was so we left early.

As in previous trips, traffic wasn't bad, and we got their quite early. A bit too early since there were hardly any cars in the open parking lots and in the adjacent parking structure. My problem was where to park because there were so many to choose from. I settled for the parking structure.

Once inside, we got something to eat, then settled at our "usual" spot at the bleachers. Usual because it was where we've sat for the last couple of games we've watched. And it wasn't a bad spot either. For the most part, we'd find the same group of folks around us each time -- something like season seats, if there is anything like it. But you get what I mean.

Bell & SI players "taking a knee" for an injured player.

During the second half of the game, one of the SI players got injured and had to be taken out of the stadium by paramedics. He was alright though, as he gave two-thumbs up as he was being wheeled out on a stretcher. But what caught my attention was how players from both teams "took a knee" while the injured player was being attended to. I have seen this gesture at CYO games in middle school whenever a player gets injured. Unfortunately, I have never witnessed the same whenever non-Catholic school teams play. I guess its another Catholic thing???

The game was a rout, and the opponent wasn't even a threat. The Bells won, 42-28.

And in keeping with our tradition, Jake and I grabbed a late night treat at In-N-Out before we headed home. Next week, Valley Christian.

Service Hours At St. Joe

At Bellarmine, part of the student experience is to perform service hours in the community. Each student is required to do at least 15 hours of community service -- half of which must be completed by December, and the balance before the end of the school year. Each grade has a specific service they need to provide. For freshmen, they need to work with younger children.

Wednesday was an off day in school, but students were expected to make use of the day for their community service. That's exactly what Jake did. A couple of weeks ago, he sent an email to the principal (Mrs. Mendoza) of his former middle school (St. Joseph) and requested her if he could perform his community service there. He was directed to coordinate this activity with the school's Special Needs Coordinator (Mrs. Vieira), who then accommodated his request.

So yesterday, with his ex-classmate and fellow Bell, Nick, Jake went to St. Joseph to perform his service. I dropped him off at Nick's house in the morning so he could get a ride to St. Joe. With various activities going on at SJS this week, Jake only had until 12:15pm because of early dismissal. He was assigned to help out in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th grade classes. After dismissal, he proceeded to Kid's Club and helped out Mrs. Blondin for the next 3 hours. At the end of the day, he logged in 7 hours. Same with Nick. Then, Nick gave him a ride back home.

Today and tomorrow, Bellarmine does not have classes. Jake planned on taking this opportunity to continue his service hours and complete the required 15 hours. Since no one else was going to St. Joe today, I dropped him off at Mission Coffee in the morning, where he hung around and had breakfast before he proceeded to SJS. This time he worked with the much younger kindergarten and 1st grade kids, before moving to Kid's Club after the 12:15 dismissal. In the afternoon, he was picked up by Coach Lou, where he assisted in the volleyball practice of the 5th grade girl's team at Irvington Community Center. With his stint at school today, he had already logged 14 hours.

Tomorrow would be his last day at St. Joe. All he needs is an hour. But if he stays for the rest of the morning, he would have more than enough for the entire year. This means he doesn't need to go to Kid's Club in the afternoon. But since he is going to be the only one there, I don't know how he will go home. He either walks home or hangs around at Kid's Club until I pick him up late in the afternoon. If there is a BART strike tomorrow, I will be working from home, and I will be able to pick him up at 12:15pm.

Next year would be a different challenge -- working with seniors (I think). Do I hear BINGO?!?!?! Well, we'll have to wait.....

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge St. Joseph School for the use of the illustration in this post.

Isla: This Place Sucks

Isla Restaurant in Newark is the pits. For a restaurant barely a month old, they might as well not have opened. Considering that this is the owner's second restaurant with the same name, he surely failed on this one. I have never been so disappointed at an eating establishment in my life as I have with this one. Let me tell you why. I just hope I can control myself and not cuss.

Isla is a Filipino restaurant specializing in regional cuisine from the Central Luzon province of Pampanga. Food from this region is known for its exceptional flavor. Although this restaurant offered a variety of local speciality dishes, it promoted food platters consisting of a variety of grilled and fried meats and seafood. Food is placed in a woven tray called "bilao".

Our first visit to this place was last Sunday. The wife and I arrived at around 2pm and the place was packed. Seemed like every Fil-Am in the Bay Area decided to try out what this place had to offer that day. There was a mix up in the sitting order that made me unnecessarily raise my voice and irritated as well. By the time we sat and ordered, it was 3pm. We ordered a "bilao" dish and a side of pork sisig, a classic regional favorite. I judge whether or not a restaurant is worth coming back to based on their sisig dish.

The sisig came out first after over 10 minutes, then the bilao, which took another 20 minutes or so. There was a lot of food for 2 people. The food was OK and nothing exceptional. How can you go wrong with fried and grilled food? Another gimmick this place offered was unlimited steamed white rice. In all fairness, I thought the sisig was probably one of the better ones I've had outside the Philippines. It's the closest I've tasted to the version of Aling Lucing -- the lady that made this regional dish popular. I am not going to talk about this dish. I've actual written a post on this a few years ago, called "What American Sisig?" . Check it out.

After Sunday's experience, we said that we would come back and give this place another try, this time, with our son, Jake.

A few days later, here we were. Back at Isla. There were lesser people than on Sunday, and we were seated right away. For a while, I thought it was a good sign. I was wrong. Terribly wrong.

It took another 10 minutes or so before any server approached our table to get our order. It was almost 8pm and we were all hungry. So we decided to order the same thing we had the last time we were there. Then, the nightmare began. The sisig dish came out probably after 20 minutes. Then, nothing. The wife and I alternated coming up to the front reception to follow up on our order.

Another 20 minutes had passed, and still nothing. I've had it. I blew my top and demanded to speak to the manager. I stood there for 5 minutes and no one came out. All I was told was to wait and someone would be coming out. When someone came out, it was a server. So I reiterated my demand to speak to a manager, but I was told she had already left for the night. What???? It wasn't even 9pm and there were still customers??? I then asked for the owner, and was told he had left as well. Then I asked who else in authority could I talk to. The server I was talking to said that HE was the only one I could talk to.

I looked at him straight in the eye and controlled myself from making a sarcastic remark. I complained about how long we've been waiting for our food to come out. He explained that  one of their grills (or stove) was broken, and before he could continue, I shot back and told him that I didn't care if his stove or oven or grill was not working. What made me even more furious was when this server offered a complimentary noodle dish (or pancit) as a way to compensate for the trouble that they had caused with the delay in the food. I told him that I didn't need his pancit dish because if I wanted it, I could have ordered it myself. At that point, I repeated my demand for the dish we ordered.

If what this server was saying was true, they should have informed their customers ahead of time about it, told them that orders were backed up, and let the customers decide if they wanted to stay and wait. But we weren't told anything. And they didn't tell the other customers either.

A "bilao" meal

For me, it was a cheap way of doing business. They're cheats. They lured in the customers, sat them, took their orders, then had them wait. They pretended all was well. But it wasn't !!! Now the customers had no choice but to wait, and wait, and wait. And since it was already late in the evening, these poor folks were not expected to just stand up and leave. They just sucked it up and dealt with the delay. That's what irked me -- a cheap, down right tasteless way of making a living.

There was a point when the wife wanted me to just pay for the food, have it packed, and leave. But it wasn't even ready. Besides, I've waited for almost an hour, and I didn't want to leave this darn place without eating.

I was certainly making a scene, and I didn't care. I wanted them to know that I will not tolerate such shabby service, even if we are of the same race. If my fellow countrymen are more patient and more tolerable, I am not. I treat everyone fairly and equally, regardless of who you are. And I expect the same from anyone. These people are in the (food) service industry, where customer service and satisfaction are key. If they cannot live up to it, they should get out of the food business.

We've been to other restaurants where we had to wait for 20-25 minutes (max) for our food, and when they arrived, the servers were super apologetic and would immediately comp the dish or take it out of the tab. They're fully aware of their mistake and had fixed the problem because they wanted to keep our business, despite the mishap. And we have come back to these places and have given them another chance.

As for Isla, if they wanted to keep our business, they could have easily comped the entire dish (which was only $40), or the entire meal ($55). What's $55??? They could have just charged it to experience, admitted their deficiencies, and invited the aggrieved parties back again, with a promise of better service and overall experience. Unfortunately, it didn't happen because there was no one in-charge. That's not the right way to run a business.

If the meal was comped, would I come back? I probably would just to give them another chance. But their failure to address the issue correctly and win us back was enough for us to say, NO MAS. NO MAS. They didn't only lose our business, but potential ones as well. We've been telling our friends to stay away from this place. Before coming here, I checked Yelp. The reviews were not favorable, and most of the complaints were similar -- poor service.

Now, you can choose to heed my warning or take the risk. But don't blame me. You have been forewarned. STAY AWAY FROM ISLA !!!!

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Yelp for the use of the photographs in this post.

Time To Bow Out

This morning, as I checked the inbox of my work email, I saw an invite to a 10:15am meeting. And the subject was "Compensation Update". With everything that's going on within our department, and within the company, in general, meetings, such as this, scare me. This one did.

I asked my peers if they had any idea what this meeting was all about. But no one knew. It was everyone's guess.

10:15 came, and we all quietly headed to our boss' office. The atmosphere was somber. Once settled, she dropped the bomb. She was "retiring". Well, she corrected herself and said that her position was being eliminated and that she decided to retire.

True? Well, she said so.

My Boss

At this point, I don't want to really talk about it. I took in the news as I heard it, and I won't put any other meaning to it. And that's for this post. I will keep it clean and free of any intrigue or speculation. For those in the know, you know. Period.

But I do want to tell you that my boss was (and will continue to be) a very principled woman, who called it as she saw it. And it probably caused her dearly. But deep in her heart and in her mind, she knew she did the right thing and can sleep comfortably at night. I admired her for this.

In the 7+ years that I have known this lady, there have been occasions where I saw her as a normal person, and not as my boss. I remembered the very first team activity we had at her house. We cooked, drank, ate, and interacted. It was my first glimpse of who this lady was outside the work environment. And we would have more of these kinds of interactions over the years.

We shared a lot of ups and downs as a team, and she was there to make sure we continued to function as one unit. It was tough, but I knew she tried. I guess we were just dysfunctional. The last few years had been challenging, but, to a certain extent, she had managed to maintain the peace and (in)sanity within the group.

For me, I had my share of frustrations and disagreements. But I would like to remember my relationship with her as being healthy -- an overall general satisfaction with a tinge of contentiousness. I guess it's having worked and lived in NYC that had allowed us to keep discussions on a professional level and not take things personally.

I am sad for my boss. We've talked about it and had seen the writings on the wall. But this was so sudden, even she was surprised. On the other hand, I am happy for her because she can move on to the next chapter of her life and begin doing counselling work. Having worked in the corporate world for more than 35 years, I think she needs an extended break.... and a couple of martinis perhaps.

God speed, Cathy. Wishing you all the best. You will be missed.....

A Sunday Retreat And More

Bellarmine Freshmen had their retreat today, and it was a long one. It started at 9am and ended at 9pm. Yes, 12 hours. Now, what can they possible talk about for 12 hours. But it looked like they had a great time. And I drove Jake, Coby, and Nick this morning.

When I got back, I tried to watch TV. I made sure I set the alarm in my phone to go off at 11:15 so I can prepare for mass, in case I dozed off. And yes, I did fall asleep. There must be something with the Lazy Boy chair I sat on. No matter what time of the day it was, if I sat on that chair and laid my back against it, within 30 seconds (maybe less), I was asleep.

I heard mass at 12:30pm, then had a late lunch with the wife. We were choosing between Pizza Antica in Santa Row, or the new Isla restaurant (serving regional Filipino food) in Newark. I figured that the drive to San Jose, plus the possible long wait for a table at Pizza Antica wasn't worth it, considering that it was already almost 2pm and that we were both hungry, too. Isla seemed the lesser evil, or so we thought.

Isla was packed. Looked like every Filipino in the Fremont-Union City-Newark area was there. Since they just opened a couple of weeks earlier, it was a bit chaotic. The people sitting the guests didn't know what they were doing. It appeared like we waited longer than we would have had had we gone to Pizza Antica. It was almost 3pm before we got seated. The wife and I thought that the wait was worth it because we loved the food. More about it in a separate post.

From there, I dropped off the wife at home since she had some errands to run. I did, too. I proceed to Sunnyvale, to Kings Academy, and picked up the Bay to Bay apparel I ordered a couple of weeks earlier. On the way back, I did a quick stop at Safeway. Then, it was back home.

A little past 7:30pm or so, I turned on my HF radio to check in to the Mabuhay DX Net on 40m (conducted Sundays 7:30 PDT on 7.181 MHz). The band conditions weren't good and the stations that would normally come in strong barely made it above the noise level. It's either the Net was cut short or they never had one because no one can be heard. With bad band conditions, there wasn't any point in staying on the air. So I turned the rig off.

The boys were picked up by Coby's parents after the retreat. The mom actually offered to bring the boys in the morning since I was up late the night before picking them up from the Haunt excursion. I said I didn't mind driving in the morning, but asked if she wanted to pick them up in the evening instead. The boys were hungry so they got something to eat. And I had my late dinner of LOs (leftovers) as well.

Jake got home past 10:30pm. After a while, it was time to call it a day.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Yelp for the photograph used in this post.

The Kids On A Haunting Experience

Earlier in the week, Jake told me that one of his former classmates had planned on going to Great America's Haunt over the weekend. Since he didn't have volleyball practice on Saturday, I was fine with it. But I wanted him to check with his mom. However, he does have a retreat at Bellarmine pretty much all day Sunday.

Most of Saturday was uneventful. Other than lunch, nothing else was lined up. We tried to get some beverages from Gong Cha but the long line was so discouraging. We just went home. I took a short nap, then it was time to take Jake to the drop off place for this Haunt excursion. It was at Senora's.

The boys and girls who showed up were all so excited to see each other. Two other boys, who happened to be hanging out across the street, stopped by as well because they wanted to catch up with their former classmates. Unfortunately, these two boys didn't come along. The host of the drop-off place was so gracious enough to prepare pizzas and brownies for the kids before they left.

The group drove off in 2 vehicles, carrying 5 boys and 6 girls. One other classmate was to meet them at Great America. The two mom-drivers had planned on hanging out at a nearby watering-hole after dropping off the kids, instead of heading back to Fremont. The place was Pedro's in Santa Clara. Since I didn't have plans that evening, I joined them for some drinks.

I remember Pedro's when I used to worked at Applied Materials, which was just close by. We went there
during Happy Hour, and enjoyed their margaritas and free appetizers. This evening, the place wasn't packed and was going through its set of late diners (it was past 8pm already). We settled by the bar area, and were the only ones there. The kids were hardly at the Haunt for half an hour, but they were already asking to be picked up much later than what was agreed upon. Final pick up time was 11pm.

The hours went by so fast. We were so engrossed in our conversation because the next thing we knew, the waiter was making a last call for drinks. They were closing at 10pm. But that didn't stop us from talking. When we finally got up, it was almost 11. Time to pick up.

We told the kids to meet us at the parking lot as you drove up Great America. Actually, we entered the parking lot the wrong way, and it took us awhile to get out, and back in the right way. When we did, the kids were already waiting. I wasn't really part of the drop-off/pick-up service, but since I was there, I volunteered to take 3 other kids and take them home, including Jake. The kids complained that the food inside the park was so expensive that they didn't buy anything. Obviously, there were all hungry.

I suggested that we grab a bite to eat at In-N-Out at Automall Parkway since it was probably the only place open after 11pm. One of the mom-drivers and the 3 kids she had with her came along as well. And yes, they were hungry alright. Soon after, we all headed home.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Wikipedia for the use of the logo in this post.

Everything I Missed

Today was probably the busiest day of the week, if not the past couple of weeks. Why? Well, there were a bunch of activities today that I wanted to attend. Unfortunately, all of them overlapped. So I had to choose one.

Whenever I am faced with such a predicament, I would do a little evaluation and rationalization before I make a decision. And that decision is typically based on a logic I have developed for myself. On this day, the questions I asked were how often does this even occur and when will the next one be? From here, I am able to deduce (and justify) by selection. However, a factor may be introduced and it skews my thought process and the results change. And this is what happened.

The biggest event scheduled for today was the Holy War -- a football game between arch rivals Bellarmine and St. Francis, in enemy territory. In the elimination round, both teams will play each other only once. For the last 8 years, the Bells have won. Everyone says if there was a football game to watch, this was it.

The second event on the calendar was a women's volleyball match between Stanford and Utah at Maple Pavilion. Jake and I had been wanting to watch a women's home game, and the Friday schedules seemed to work well. However, he was dead set on watching the Holy War, so the Stanford game was out of the question. Besides, there were other matches lined up for the remainder of the season that we could catch. And I don't want to watch it alone either.

Being the second Friday of the month, it was SBARA's monthly general membership meeting. The planned presentation was on fiber optics. Quite interesting, but not enough to ditch the Holy War or the volleyball game. Besides, this meeting happens every month (except in December), so missing one won't hurt.

Then, there was this invitation from a friend for a few drinks. Believe it or not, this kind of event does have its weight in gold. Anytime you ask me out for a few drinks, I'm always up for it. Coupled with good food and hearty conversation, nothing beats a night of drinks.

So, of the four events, which did I choose?

I think it was obvious. It was drinks at BJ's.

Let me walk you through my thought process on this one.

Like I said earlier, the introduction of one factor can skew my decision. This one was not any different. The factor that messed up my decision was laziness. Yes, sir! I knew the Holy War happened once a year, and this was something I shouldn't miss. But the thought of driving to Mountain View, in rush hour traffic, at the end of long work week, didn't seem to enticing for me. Not enough motivation for me to look beyond these obstacles to make the trip. It was just plain laziness. Bad mistake. Really, my bad!!! Well, there's always next year. And it's probably going to be a home game.

Watching a volleyball game solo was out of the question, so that was easy. And since SBARA's meetings were more regular and frequent, that trumped having drinks. Although the latter was more deliberate and can be had at any time, it sure was more exciting than listening to the latest and greatest technology on fiber optics.

Did I make the right decision? At the time I made it, yes. Do I regret making that decision? In hindsight, yes. Yes, because the Holy War doesn't happen everyday. But I do not regret the company because I enjoyed it.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Wikipedia & BJ's for the use of the logo in this post.

It Was Bell Peppers & Carrots This Time

Each year, one of the goals of our NF Compensation group was to do volunteer work. Over the last 7 years that I have been with this group, we've had numerous volunteer opportunities, such as adopting a family for Christmas, donating back-to-school back packs and supplies, and the helping out in the local food bank. This afternoon, we were back at the Alameda Food Bank.

This year, we went earlier in the year than we normally do, in anticipation of a heavier-than-normal work load towards the end of the year. Finding available volunteer slots wasn't difficult as well because there weren't as many groups volunteering during this time of the year. Today seemed to work out for most of us, too.

Our schedule was immediately after lunch, from 12:30 to 3:30pm. I suggested that we have lunch at In-N-Out burger close to the food bank, as we have done in previous years, before our volunteer work.

As we arrived, we found out that there was another KP group that was volunteering alongside us. They were from Procurement & Supply, and it was their first time. For our group, it was probably the sixth, so we are familiar with the routine. Despite this, we still had to listen to the usual introduction and safety briefing.

For this visit, we worked on bagging carrots and bell peppers. I chose the bell peppers because packing them would not be as complicated as packing carrots, especially in those red fishnets. Imagine how the pointed ends of the carrots were protruding the fishnets, making it quite difficult (and annoying) to pack. No such problems with the bell peppers.

After our shift, we proceeded to a room adjacent to the warehouse and watched a short video about the Alameda Food Bank. Although the video was a couple of years old, the statistics that were provided were staggering. It gave us a glimpse of the volume of food (in all varieties) that comes in and is redistributed to the community on a daily basis, and how many families are served. Truly amazing.

The time spent at the food bank may appear short (or long) depending on how one sees it. The manual labor makes the task appear laborious, but the companionship and camaraderie of a group collectively doing such work makes it seem easy and fun. And that's the way it should be.

At the end of our service, I felt great, as I always did each and every time. In my own little way, I have helped someone in need. That person (or persons) will remain nameless and faceless, but, in my heart, I know they are happy and grateful. And that's the way I want it .... anonymous.